Lego Systems’ sales surpassed $1 billion mark in 2010

Kids love Legos. Actually, everybody loves Legos. Enjoying the little multi-colored building blocks are just part of what makes us human, we believe. And that means good things for Lego Systems, which announced Monday that it surpassed $1 billion in consumer sales in the United States in 2010, helping the company reach its highest share of the U.S. toy market ever.

Lego Systems reportedly enjoyed a 25 percent jump in consumer sales over 2009, which pushed the company to the No. 3 spot among U.S. toy manufacturers. Lego is, unsurprisingly, also the No. 1 construction toy manufacturer in the U.S. And the company contributed around 50 percent of total toy industry consumer sales growth in 2010.

Part of Lego’s success came from the video game sector, with 5 million games sold in 2010. Lego has been releasing video games since 1997, with the launch of Lego Island for the PC. For 2011, Lego has so far announced the release of two titles: Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars, which hits stores March 22; and Lego Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game, which comes out later this year.

Lego plans to announce its largest collection of toys ever at the 2011 American International Toy Fair in New York City this week — a total of 170 new products. Continuing down the path of turning everything into a Lego set, the company says it will unveil new building-block lines inspired by the Pirates of the Caribbean and Cars 2 feature films. Expansion of its highly popular line for preschoolers, Lego Duplo, will be announced as well.

Just recently, we showed you this sweet, custom-built shutter release for the excellent Sony Alpha NEX-5 digital camera, which was made entirely out of Lego parts. So if anyone tells you you’re too old to play with Legos, make sure you remind them that these toys aren’t just for kids — at least they don’t have to be. Oh, who are we kidding? Nobody’s going to tell you Legos are just for kids. Nobody.